USA > Washington > King County > Seattle > A volume of memoirs and genealogy of representative citizens of the city of Seattle and county of King, Washington, including biographies of many of those who have passed away > Part 34
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of a receiver and was closed out by him. In 1895 Mr. Brace and his partner, Mr. Hergert, leased the property and met with such excellent success in the conduct of their business that in 1899 they purchased the property and have refitted the plant with the latest improved machinery. The capacity of the plant is now sixty-five thousand feet of lumber in ten hours. They employ eighty men and have a large local demand for their product. Under their able management the business has steadily increased and the building is now worth seventy-five thousand dollars. Mr. Brace is a man of superior busi- ness ability and has not limited his efforts to one line. He is interested in several business enterprises and he has large logging interests, and has ac- quired considerable city property.
Mr. Brace was elected alderman of Seattle in 1892 and served for two years. In 1890 he was united in marriage to Miss Kate Frankland, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, and a daughter of James Frankland, who was of English ancestry. They now have five children: Sarah Maude, Mary Eveline, Ilarry Dominick, John Benjamin and Alice Mildred. The parents hold membership in the Episcopal church and Mr. Brace is a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. They have a fine residence in Seattle and are very highly respected citizens, while Mr. Brace is known as a successful business man. His life has been one of continuous activity. in which he has been accorded his due share of labor, and to-day he is numbered among the substantial residents of Seattle. His interests are thoroughly identified with those of the northwest, and at all times he is ready to lend his aid and co-operation to any movement calculated to benefit this section of the country or advance its wonderful development.
ALBERT BUHTZ.
A reprensentative of the industrial interests of Seattle. Albert Buhtz is the president of the Fremont Barrel Company and the manager of the busi- ness. A native of Germany, he was born on the 25th of September, 1846. his parents being William and Christiana (Pretzer) Buhtz, both of whom were natives of the same country. The father was sea captain and owned the ship on which he sailed. In religious faith he was a Protestant and was a man of sterling integrity who made many friends in his own land and in the ports to which he sailed. He died at the age of sixty-four years, and his wife passed away at the age of fifty-eight years. They were the parents of six children, of whom only two are living, a younger brother of our subject being still a resident of Prussia.
Albert Bility.
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Albert Buhtz was educated and learned his trade in his native land and when fourteen years of age he went to sea, following "a life on the ocean wave" for eight years, during which he sailed over all parts of the Atlantic ocean and the North sea. In 1868, when twenty-two years of age, he camne to the United States and made his way inland to Cleveland, Ohio, intending to make this country his home. At the time of his arrival in the Ohio city he liad but little knowledge of the English language, but he was determined and resolute and his self-reliance and energy have enabled liim to steadily advance in the business world. He learned the cooper's trade in Cleveland and en- gaged in the manufacture of oil barrels, securing a good market for his pro- duct. He remained in that business in Cleveland until 1888 when he deter- mined to come to Seattle, hoping thereby to benefit the health of his wife.
In 1871, in Cleveland, Mr. Buhtz had been married to Miss Susie Gram- lich, who was born in Germany but was brought by her parents to the United States when she was but two years of age, hier father being Jacob Gramlich. Eight children were born unto our subject and his wife in Cleveland and an- other child was added to the family in Seattle. All are yet living and are respected members of society in the city in which they have so long resided.
After arriving in this city Mr. Buhtz began work at his trade and being expert and capable he soon found that his services were in constant demand. In 1896 he established his present business and is now at the liead of the Fremont Barrel Factory. He has a lot two hundred by two hundred feet, on which he has erected a building eighty by sixty feet and two stories in height. He has also built another building, twenty by thirty-six feet and a story and a half in height. In connection with the plant there is also a dry kiln forty by sixty feet. He has the facilities, tools and knowledge to enable him to manu- facture the best cooperage of all descriptions. He makes a specialty of fish, vinegar and meat barrels, and the fish barrels are largely sent to Alaska. A large business is successfully conducted and the factory is so arranged that if exceptionally large orders are received an extra number of workmen can be employed to hasten the filling of the order. In the conduct and ownership of the factory Mr. Buhtz is now associated with his son, Albert J., who is the secretary and treasurer of the company. He is a well informed and capable young business man.
Albert J. Buhtz is now married and has one son. The other members of the father's family are William F., Emil R., Carl F., Minnie, Susan, Amelia, Matilda and Gertrude. Susan is now the wife of William Wagner. The family have a good home which Mr. Buhtz built on the hillside, over- looking his factory and the surrounding country and the beautiful lake near
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by. In his political affiliations he is a Republican, having supported the party since casting his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield. He and his family are members of the German Congregational church. The hope that led them to seek a home on the coast has been realized, for here the mother regained her health and still lives to bless the home by her cheerful presence. Mr. Buhtz is a man of strong force of character, purposeful and resolute. He is still active in business affairs and his career has been remarkably suc- cessful chiefly by reason of his natural ability and his thorough insight into the business in which as a young tradesman he embarked. His word is as good as his bond and the better one knows him the greater the respect he entertains for him.
EDWIN R. BISSELL.
Edwin R. Bissell is engaged in the drug business at Auburn, his mier- cantile affairs being a prominent factor in the commercial activity and pros- perity of the town. He was born near Erie, Erie county, Pennsylvania, on the 21st of February, 1855, and is a son of Gaylord G. Bissell, whose birth occurred in Litchfield county, Connecticut, on the 13th of February, 1825. When a young man the father left the Charter Oak state and removed to Erie county. Pennsylvania, and subsequently became a resident of Fort Dodge, Iowa, where he remained for about five years. In 1860 he removed to Virginia City, Montana, being one of the pioneers of that celebrated min- ing camp. He was chosen the first mayor of Virginia City and was after- ward the first police judge of that place, filling those positions at a time when that section of Montana was overrun with outlaws. It required considerable personal courage and determination to occupy those offices, but he discharged his duties without fear or favor, and his son Edwin now has in his pos- session a star which was presented to his father while he was acceptably serv- ing as police judge, and which the son prizes very highly. Gaylord G. Bissell was a practicing physician and had also been admitted to the bar in his younger days, but never followed the law as a profession. In Montana, when he was not engaged with his official duties, he devoted his energies to mining. In 1869 he returned to the east, locating at Lovilia, Iowa, where he engaged in the practice of medicine until his life's labors were ended in death, on the 8th of July, 1879. In Litchfield county, Connecticut, he had wedded Emily Talmadge, who was born in Connecticut, April 20, 1828, and they were married in that state on the 7th of November, 1849. Mrs. Bissell survived her husband for a number of years, passing away in Lovilia, Iowa, on the 20th of April, 1898. Both the parents of our subject were of French
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Huguenot extraction and their respective families were founded in America by those who belonged to the original Plymouth colony of New England.
In the schools of Torringford, Connecticut, and Lovilia, lowa, Edwin R. Bissell pursued his education, becoming a resident of the latter place when thirteen years old. He continued his studies until he reached the age of eight- een, after which he engaged in teaching for two or three years, near Avoca, Iowa. He followed that profession through the winter months and during the summer season worked as a farm hand. During the mining excitement in Colorado he went to Leadville and entered the employ of the Little Pitts- burg Mining Company, with which he was connected for a year. He then turned his attention to the cattle business in San Luis valley, in Colorado, raising cattle on the range for about four years. He went through all the experiences of a cowboy on the plains. He then returned to Iowa and after his marriage took his bride to Colorado, where he continued to make his home until 1884, when he sold his interests there and became a resident of Lovilia, Iowa, where he conducted a restaurant for a year. He next re- moved to Vining in Clay county, Kansas, where he accepted a position as clerk in a general store, acting in that capacity for four years.
In 1889 Mr. Bissell came to Washington, locating at Auburn, where in connection with his uncle, V. R. Bissell, he opened a drug store under the firm name of V. R. Bissell & Company. The uncle died in 1893, since which time the store has been owned and conducted by Edwin R. Bissell. He car- ries a large and well selected stock of drugs and other commodities usually found in first-class drug stores, and his patronage is extensive anad brings to him a good profit.
In 1881 occurred the marriage of Mr. Bissel to Miss Alice Roberts, the wedding taking place in Lovilia, Iowa, where the lady was born in 1860. She died in Auburn in January, 1902, leaving one son, Gaylord Nathan, who 's now thirteen years of age. Mr. Bissell belongs to King Solomon Lodge. F. & A. M., Douglas Lodge, K. P., Valley Lodge, I. O. O. F., the Independ- ent Order of Foresters and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, also to the National Union and Oriental Princes. He is a popular representative of those fraternal organizations and has many friends among the brethren in the ranks. His political support is given with unfaltering purpose to the Republican party, and upon that ticket he was elected treasurer of Auburn in 1898, and has since been continuously in the office, proving loyal and faithful to the trust reposed in him. He is a man of enterprising and progressive spirit and has found in the business opportunities of the west the advantages which he sought for the purpose of acquiring a comfortable competence.
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PERRY POLSON.
"Through struggles to success," has been the life record of Perry Pol- SO11. Difficulties and obstacles have barred his path to the goal of prosperity, but by determined and honorable effort he has worked his way steadily up- ward and to-day he stands in an enviable position on the plane of affluence, with a record of diligence, perseverance and business integrity that any man might envy. A native of Sweden, he was born in Halmstad on the 8th of July. 1854. His parents, Olof and Gunilla (Matson) Polson, were born, reared and married in Sweden and in 1868 came to the United States, bring- ing with them their seven children, three sons and four daughters. They settled in Iowa, and one more son was added to the family there, while one son was born in Washington territory. With the exception of two, all of the children are yet living and both parents survive at the age of sixty-eight years. They are respected and industrious farming people and are faithful and devout members of the Lutheran church.
Perry Polson is the only member of the family residing in Seattle. He received a common school education in his native land and was a lad of four- teen years when in 1868 he arrived with his father and the family in lowa and began to earn his own living there as a farm boy. After three years spent in the Hawkeye state he came to Washington territory, being then a youth of seventeen years. Here he continued to work as a farm hand, being paid from thirty to forty dollars per month, which was the usual wages paid at that time. During the Cariboo excitement in British Columbia he went there and was employed by the firm of Meacham & Nason at Barkerville in the lumbering and mining business at seventy-five dollars per month and board. He had charge of one of the lumber yards and the accounts in con- nection with the business. On his return to Washington he puchased a farm of one hundred and ninety acres in Skagit county, for which he was to pay five thousand dollars. He paid one thousand dollars down, the remainder to be afterward paid, leaving a debt of four thousand, and at the end of the first vear hie found that he was five thousand dollars in debt and was paying fifteen per cent. interest on the same. That interest he continued to pay for six years.
In 1881 Mr. Polson was united in marriage to Miss Kate H. Hinckley. who was born in the old town of Shasta, California, a daughter of J. C. Ilinckley, the publisher of the first newspaper in the then flourishing town and mining camp of Shasta. For three years after his marriage Mr. Polson continued on the farm and reduced his indebtedness, but the worry and anx-
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iety were too much for him. His health failed and he was told by the physi- cians that he could not live unless he made a change. He then rented the farm, reserving a small piece of land, on which he intended to build and make his home, but in the meantime a party in the implement business induced him to engage in that line of commercial activity as a partner in Laconner, Skagit county, under the firm name of Pool & Polson. They did business together tor a little more than a year and then Mr. Polson purchased his partner's in- terest and continued the business alone for a year. On the expiration of that period he admitted his brother Nels Polson to a partnership and after two years of successful business a third brother, John Polson, became a partner, and the Polson Hardware Company was organized. The business grew to large proportions. They were buying their goods from Portland and San Francisco jobbers, but in 1889 Perry Polson went east and purchased goods, after which the Portland jobbers refused to sell them goods and also put their traveling men in Mr. Polson's territory to canvass his patrons and take from him his customers. This caused our subject to conclude that he would either have to go out of business or go to Seattle and open business there in com- petition with the Portland people. The firm incorporated under the name of the Polson, Wilton Hardware Company, Mr. A. Wilton joming the com- pany, and a branch house in Seattle was opened with Mr. Wilton in charge. They were then in direct competition with their old friends and by careful management and honorable business methods they secured the business to such an extent that one of the Portland branches at Seattle was sold to them, and they were in control of the whole business. They became large whole- sale dealers in this line and have the credit of being the pioneer jobbers of agricultural implements and vehicles from Seattle. They also have a store at Wenatchee, Chelan county, besides their store at Laconner which is now a branch store, their Seattle store now being their head office. After the last
incorporation of the firm, Mr. Polson's brother, Nels, withdrew, and in Feb- ruary, 1901, his brother John died. He had been vice-president and secre- tary of the company. In 1897 Mr. Wilton withdrew and the following year Mr. Polson changed the name of the business to its present form, the Polson Implement & Hardware Company, of which he is the president and manager. Through all the years he has been the active moving spirit in the enterprise and to his business talent and honorable methods may be attributed the splendid success he has achieved. He has the good will and confidence of all with whom he has had business relations.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Polson have been born four children: Minnie, who is now a stenographer in her father's office; Helen, Olof Hinckley, and
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!Iarokl. Mr. Polson is a member of the Masonic fraternity and was secre- tary of his lodge in Laconner. He is also a representative of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and in politics is a Republican. While on his farm he served as road supervisor and school director, but has never been desirous for official positions. Such is the life record of Mr. Polson, and his success has been most creditable. Like other business men he has not found all of the days equally bright. Indeed in his commercial experience, he has seen the gathering of clouds that threatened storms and disaster, but his rich inheritance of energy and pluck has enabled him to turn defeat into victories and promised failures into brilliant successes. Whether as a busi- man or in private life, he has always been the same genial, courteous gentle- man, whose ways are those of refinement, and whose word no one can question.
ALVER ROBINSON.
Alver Robinson, who for the past ten years has been president of the Seattle Land Company and is now engaged on his own account in buying and selling real estate and loaning money, has been a very active factor in the improvement and upbuilding of the city in which he makes his home. He has been interested in a number of additions which have been made to Seattle, including Harrison Heights north of Lake Union, and Latone which is now well improved. He has also been interested in the Brooklyn addition, com- prising one hundred and seven acres adjoining the State University, and in the Coffman addition, between Jackson street and Yesler Way, comprising twenty-three acres.
Mr. Robinson is a native of Tennessee, his birth having occurred near Knoxville, on the 4th of August, 1857. The family is of Scotch lineage and was early founded in Virginia by ancestors who located there in pioneer days. Walter Robinson, the grandfather of our subject, was born in the old Domin- ion, and became a planter and slave-owner there, but did not believe in the system of holding people in bondage and at the time of the Civil war became a staunch Union man and a Republican. When a young man he left Vir- ginia, removing to Tennessee, where he was married and in that state, in 1832, his son John C. Robinson, was born. After arriving at years of matur- ity the latter was united in marriage to Elizabeth B. Chisholm, a lady of Scotch lineage, who was born in Tennessee. He inherited his father's slaves, but he, too, was not in favor of the system of slavery as it existed in the south. Removing to Arkansas and afterward to Kansas, he has devoted
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the greater part of his attention throughout his business career to agri- cultural pursuits and is now living in the Sunflower state at the age of sixty-nine years. He and his wife have long been acceptable and faithful members of the Christian church and are worthy and esteemed citizens of the community in which they make their home. Mr. Robinson served as assessor of his county and was a candidate of his party for the state legis- lature, but as his county has a Democratic majority he was defeated by a small vote, as he endorsed the Republican party and its principles. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson became the parents of eleven children, of whom nine are yet living and three of the sons are respected and worthy citizens of the state of Washington; namely, A. J., of Seattle; C. D., of Snohomish; and Alver.
In taking up the personal history of Alver Robinson we present to our readers the life record of one who is widely and favorably known in connection with business interests in Seattle. He pursued his education in Missouri and in Kansas, for during the period of the Civil war his family resided in the former state. Early in his business career he was engaged in farming and later turned his attention to the manufacture of carriages as a member of the firm of Cole & Robinson, in which industry he was in- terested from 1883 until 1887, meeting with a high degree of success in his undertakings. He was also to some extent engaged in real estate deal- ing and his experience in that direction proved a benefit to him when he began his real estate operations on the Pacific coast. In the year 1887 Mr. Robinson made his way to California and in the fall of that year arrived in Seattle, where he became one of the organizers of the Seattle Land Com- pany, of which he was president for ten years. He has been very prominent and influential in promoting the growth and improvement of the city, doing all in his power to advance its interests. He is a business man of high integrity, of marked enterprise and keen discernment, and his well directed efforts have been the foundation of the success which has attended him. He is now a member of the Chamber of Commerce, a body composed of the most prominent and enterprising business men of Seattle.
In 1889, Mr. Robinson was happily married to Miss May Randolph, a native of Oregon and a daughter of S. P. Randolph, one of the honored pioneer settlers of the Sunset state, who later came to Washington, taking up his abode in Seattle in 1873. To our subject and his wife was born one son, Walter Randolph Robinson, who is now in school. In 1893 Mr. Robin- son was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 12th of March. She was a lady of amiable disposition, of culture and refinement,
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and a devoted Christian woman. In the church she was an active and earnest worker, and her loss was deeply felt there as well as in her home and in the social circles in which she moved. On October 7, 1902, Mr. Robinson was married to Miss Anna Campbell.
Soon after coming to Seattle Mr. Robinson placed his membership in the First Presbyterian church and later he became one of the organizers of Westminster Presbyterian church, with which he has since been identified. He is now one of its most active and influential representatives, is serving as one of its deacons and is a trustee, and in his contributions for its support he is most liberal and generous. His life has been honorable, and viewed in a personal light he is a strong man, strong in his good name and in the high reputation which has come to him through upright dealing in business and through fidelity to duty in every relation in which he has been placed.
CHARLES R. COLLINS.
Charles R. Collins was born in the city of Philadelphia on the 3d of January, 1863, and the blood of English and Welsh ancestry flows in his veins. The family of which he is a representative was founded in Virginia in colonial days and among its numbers were those who were active particip- ants in events which shaped the early history of the Old Dominion and also of New Jersey. In religious faith they adhered to the Society of Friends. On the maternal side Mr. Collins is connected with the Harrisons of Vir- ginia. Joseph Harrison Collins, the father of our subject, was born in Haddonfield, New Jersey, in 1813, and married Martha Ann Judkins, a re- presentative of an old family of Virginia, but later established in Ohio. Mr. Collins removed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in the lumber trade and in the building business. Under the old city govern- ment he served as a city commissioner and was a man prominent in public as well as business affairs. He adhered to the faith of the Presbyterian church and after an honorable and upright career departed this life in 1888, at the age of seventy-four years. His wife survives him and is now in the seventy-sixth year of her age, and she still resides in Philadelphia. In the family were six children, and with one exception all are yet living.
Charles R. Collins attended the public schools of his native city and received his instruction and training as a mechanical engineer in Stevens In- stitute of Technology. After completing the course he was for some years connected with the engineer department of the United Gas Improvement Company of Philadelphia, where he remained until 1896, a period of ten
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years. He then came to Seattle to accept the position of general manager of the Seattle Gas & Electric Light Company, in whichi capacity he served most acceptably until the 3Ist of December, 1900, when he resigned his po- sition to engage in business for himself. He is now connected with con- struction work on the Pacific coast, his labors covering the territory of Cali- fornia, Oregon and Washington. He assisted in laying out the work for the new gas plant of Claus Spreckles of San Francisco, and is also building the gas works at Everett, Washington. He likewise has charge of the con- struction of the plant of the Citizens' Gas Light & Power Company of Seat- tle. He is an expert mechanical engineer, thoroughly familiar with the great scientific principles which underlie his work, having acquired a practical knowledge of the duties which devolve upon him in connection with the exe- cution of contracts in this department of industrial activity.
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